Jiandar grew more and more pleased the longer he looked. The spell model for Alarm had clearly undergone adaptive adjustments, making it extremely well-suited to the current magical environment.
Spellcasting with magic power now was no longer the same as it had been before.
The Weave was a woven structure of magic—a bridge connecting a caster's consciousness to raw magic. The vast majority of raw magic was constrained by the Weave, becoming standardized and structured.
This system of energy and its governing rules made it difficult for ordinary mages to bypass the Weave and directly manipulate raw magic. The Goddess of Magic did not like people doing that; she regarded the Weave as the cornerstone of world order and spared no effort in extending it throughout the multiverse.
Therefore, even when using the same magic power for spellcasting, the spell models from before and those used now should differ significantly.
Anser sat calmly off to the side, completely unconcerned that the other party might take the scroll without paying.
After all, it was just a 1st-level spell scroll. If the other party would stoop to coveting even that, then the so-called Magic Research Society probably wasn't much to begin with.
The dice rolled for a long while before finally detecting the target's information:
[Jiandar, Human, Level 16 Wizard (Conjuration School)]
'Just one step away from mastering 9th-level spells… that last step must be incredibly difficult,' Anser thought to himself.
At that moment, Jiandar flipped the opened scroll face-down onto the table and smiled, his face full of wrinkles. "Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Jiandar Stayanoga, senior researcher of the Magic Research Society, specializing in the Conjuration School."
"Mr. Drizzt, your spell model is very mature. May I ask—what is the highest spell level you can currently cast?"
"Second level," Anser replied without hiding anything.
He didn't know how many spell models the Magic Research Society possessed, but low-level spells were safe to reveal—they wouldn't attract too much attention.
Jiandar couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed, but he didn't show it. Instead, he probed tentatively, "Have you always used magic power for spellcasting? This spell model…"
He trailed off halfway, but Anser immediately understood and replied calmly, "I'm a Sorcerer, with a part-time path as a Wizard. I've always used magic power for casting. For now, I can only provide 1st-level spell models that I've mastered."
"No problem. As long as there are no duplicates, we'll pay two thousand pounds of gold per 1st-level spell." Jiandar stopped pressing further and decided to proceed step by step, slowly drawing him in.
"I also have a question."
"Please, go ahead."
"Is the headquarters of the Magic Research Society on Toril? Why don't you go to Candlekeep? They went through the Spellplague era—surely they should have knowledge in this area, right?" Anser felt the Society was taking a rather roundabout path.
When it came to knowledge reserves, no one could bypass Candlekeep.
Back then, the Great Reader Italo had even sought him out to purchase application techniques for 1st-level spells. That kind of attitude—never letting any high-value knowledge slip by—made Anser feel that Candlekeep must be extremely "wealthy."
Jiandar sighed helplessly. "The headquarters of the Magic Research Society is indeed in Faerûn. After the Weave became unstable, we immediately tried to contact Candlekeep, but magical communication was cut off. We could only send people there, but the journey is long, disasters are frequent, and travel is difficult. So far, we still haven't established contact."
"We've placed our hopes on the world of Abeir and other Wildspace systems. We've gained some results, but due to differences in magical theory and magical environments, many spell models can only be successfully cast by veteran mages—they're not friendly to most casters and require targeted adjustments."
"A spell model that works universally for the general public is a good model. For example, your Alarm spell is very standard—at a glance, it's clearly built upon Toril's magical theory foundation…"
Candlekeep was far away, while Anser was right in front of him—better to secure what was within reach first.
Anser nodded silently. "Perhaps… Candlekeep has its own troubles as well."
"If you're willing to trade, I can process your membership registration right now."
"No problem."
"Ms. Delira, could you please wait outside?" Jiandar gestured politely.
Delira curled her lips, stood up, and gave Anser a bright smile. "I'll be waiting for you in the restaurant."
"Alright." Anser wasn't the type to discard someone after they'd outlived their usefulness—she had genuinely helped quite a bit.
Next, he and Jiandar discussed the details of the transaction and membership.
Joining required registration. A real name wasn't necessary, but one had to leave a stable contact method and a magic imprint so the Society could create a unique identity plaque.
Anser continued using "Drizzt" as his alias. Trust had to be built step by step—there was no way he'd expose his foundation right away.
The transaction included eight 1st-level spells. Among them, Mage Armor and False Life were duplicates—the Society already had them—but Jiandar still accepted them.
The Alarm scroll was treated as a bonus.
Anser's thinking was simple: since the Magic Research Society had a knowledge protection system, there was no need to release everything at once—lest some genius or Candlekeep get ahead of him.
Right now, the disaster had just begun, the Society was in urgent need, and the prices were extremely high. After some time, the bounties would inevitably drop—this was a natural rule.
He would test the waters with 1st-level spells first. If the Society truly honored its promises, then he would consider selling 2nd-level spells.
Using the Wizardly Quill that came with the Book of Castella, he copied all eight spells onto the parchment provided by Jiandar. It took only a few dozen minutes.
This was just a normal transcription of spell knowledge, not the creation of spell scrolls.
After checking them one by one, Jiandar locked the parchment containing the spell knowledge together with the Alarm scroll into a box, then paid promptly.
Eight spells in total. Each spell was priced at two thousand pounds of gold, for a total of sixteen thousand pounds—equivalent to eight hundred thousand gold coins.
After converting the value, Anser's breathing grew heavier. His heart raced, and his palms became warm and damp.
And that wasn't even all. If other mages purchased his spells, he would receive a twenty percent share. Even if each spell sold for just one hundred gold coins, that would still be an enormous sum—sustained over a hundred years.
Jiandar didn't have that much gold on hand. He only had five small chests of gold bars, each containing one thousand pounds—two hundred bars per chest, each bar weighing five pounds.
Gold had a high density—one thousand pounds of gold melted into a cube would have sides of less than thirty centimeters. Faerûn's gold wasn't particularly pure, so the volume was slightly larger.
For the remaining amount, he paid with five hundred pounds of platinum ingots, one mithral ingot, and dozens of high-value magical gemstones.
In truth, Anser came out ahead. Value density was an important metric—many things couldn't be bought with gold or platinum, but could be acquired with magical gemstones and mithral.
Jiandar didn't feel the slightest pain paying it. The smile never left his face. "Won't you consider 2nd-level spells? This bounty might not last long."
"I'll come back in seven days," Anser said. For a brief moment, he was tempted—but he ultimately declined.
"Then be careful. Try not to shop in the market—Traveler's Rest isn't absolutely safe…" Jiandar repeatedly warned him, clearly worried.
"I will." Anser stored all the gold and gemstones into the Avaricious Dragonhide Pouch, opened the door—then suddenly remembered a question he had long overlooked.
He turned back toward Jiandar and, after a moment of silence, asked, "Mage Jiandar, what exactly happened to the Weave?"
"I don't know. The chairman took a magic vessel to the Outer Planes and hasn't returned. There are rumors that a divine war may have broken out in the Outer Planes—but it hasn't been confirmed." Jiandar let out a faint sigh, his eyes filled with confusion.
"Thank you for sharing." Anser gave a slight bow, then stepped out and closed the door behind him.
He steadied his emotions and didn't dwell on the issue. Even if a divine war had broken out—so what? As someone without faith and without power, a minor professional like him had no qualifications to get involved.
'Better to get my hands on a couple of legendary items… though they probably won't be easy to buy.'
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